The core... she saw it.

More precisely, she saw Puppu being born from the core and settling into Tie's backpack.

But she could not tell everything as it truly was. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Tie coughed and answered uncertainly.

"Wel... it was a bit hard to fight Krazar in subspace..."

The situation improved a lot after Lucarion appeared.

"But somehow then Tie's pet ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) was born... well... a summoned creature."

"You summoned a creature inside the subspace?"

"Noo."

"But isn't magic unusable inside subspace?"

Tie flinched and pressed her lips together.

"Uh... that's true."

It seemed magic really could not be used there.

But nothing could be done about that now.

Tie rolled her eyes and, deciding to go all the way, answered:

"Tie could do it."

"What?"

"Tie magic worked..."

Silence fell in the reception room.

Raising her eyes, Tie saw strange expressions on Riper's and Elanes's faces.

Tie hurriedly added:

"Elanes and Riper weren't in the subspace."

That is — you were not there. I was. So I know better.

After a moment Riper nodded.

"...Well, true."

Elanes still looked suspicious, but only muttered:

"Maybe because of the dark attribute..."

Then she turned away.

Regaining her confidence, Tie continued:

"In short, Tie dispelled Krazar's mist and found the core. But it shattered and disappeared."

"Shattered?"

"No!"

"And that's it?"

"No. The end."

Tie stuck out her chest proudly.

In fact she had not told a single extra lie.

"They didn't ask whether anything came out of the core."

If they had asked, she would have told about Puppu.

But since they did not ask — then it was fine.

"Could that be possible...?"

Elanes tilted her head in disbelief again.

And at that moment—

knock knock.

A quiet sound came from below.

Tie flinched and lowered her eyes.

From the Hanbit kindergarten backpack.

Once the slightly open zipper had parted, and Puppu was tapping the inner wall of the pocket with his nose.

When their eyes met, Puppu put a paw to his mouth and quietly said:

"Shh."

Tie nearly opened her mouth in astonishment, but forced herself to remain still and slowly raised her head.

"And do you know how majestic the King of the Dead was when she fought Krazar? No wonder they call her a great mage! When she pushed off the wall and rose up, the height was just...!"

Now everything became clear.

"And then—bam!—Krazar's mist scattered! The formless beast shuddered and—boom!—fell to the ground!"

Berugon had not lied at all.

He sincerely told what he had seen with his own eyes.

The only problem was that it had all been an illusion created by Puppu.

Tie swallowed and carefully closed the backpack zipper.

"Puppu..."

At first she had thought she had simply become the mother of a cute little elephant.

But it seemed that after the Cleansing of Oblivion she had gained something else incredible.

And in a very different sense.

"When you remelt the core of a large beast, sometimes the weapon you get becomes hollow."

Berugon's explanations continued for quite a while.

"Sorry to stretch the story. It's just been a long time since I felt so clear-headed. So, returning to what we were saying: if the durability drops, then usually the core used in a weapon..."

Night finally settled outside the windows.

But however long he spoke, Berugon did not intend to stop.

Awakened, Tie raised her head.

Elanes sat propping her chin with her hand and idly twirling a glass of water.

Behind her Riper had even stood up and was looking through the panoramic window at the Furnace of Origin.

"Elanes, listen more carefully. Didn't you ask if I have a finished weapon? Don't you want to get my secret creation?"

Elanes barely contained a sigh and closed her eyes.

"...When will he arrive."

What needed to be checked had long since been checked.

They confirmed that the head of the smiths was not just all right but even more energetic than usual.

And it was almost certainly clear that Krazar's core had been destroyed.

And yet they could not leave.

There was only one reason.

"Until Valentis Luminel arrives, we won't leave."

The Association's instruction was to report the situation to the Empire's representative — Supreme Marshal Luminel.

That is, they had to meet him and hand over all gathered information.

"We've suffered all day, and now we can't just walk away."

"King of the Dead. You know how passionate I am about forging weapons."

Berugon switched his focus to her at that moment.

The King of the Dead, who had been dozing, quickly wiped the corner of her mouth and nodded diligently.

"Noo!"

"You've trained magical attacks many times yourself. So you understand how much work it takes to create something truly perfect!"

"Noo."

"And therefore..."

Elanes leaned toward the returning Riper and whispered:

"I take my words back."

Riper looked at her questioningly.

Elanes, eyes flashing, continued:

"I said Tesetan was a fool because he doesn't know how to suck up to the Association. Well, I take it back. That bastard was right. The fools are us."

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"About Supreme Marshal Luminel. Why is he taking so long? The Association said he'd arrive through a teleportation portal."

At the moment there was no faster way to travel in the Empire than a teleportation portal.

"A few seconds to start. A few to activate. A few to stabilize. Not even minutes..."

Elanes took a deep breath.

"I'm not waiting any longer."

She frowned and stood.

"The Association are reasonable people — they'll still give the reward. I'll go first, and you finish here yourselves..."

And at that moment the reception door opened.

"Excuse me. I arrived long ago, but I was held up."

A tall knight stood in the doorway.

When he appeared, the air in the room seemed to change.

Tie slowly turned her head.

The child's sleepy eyes blinked.

And suddenly flew wide open.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

He resembled him.

"Then let's start quickly and finish quickly."

Supreme Marshal Luminel, the highest-titled of the Empire's holy knights.

Perhaps the very Valentis Luminel Tie had long dreamt of meeting.

Tie swallowed.

"...He looks very—very like Father!"